The Princess and Her Savior {Liam Payne AU}

Chapter 1 : The Proposal

Beth's POV

I was awaken to the glaring sunlight that shined through my window. Fluttering my eyes open, I was greeted by one of the servants standing near my windows. "Good morning, your highness, your mother sent me to awake you" she said lightly and I nodded at her.

"Thank you, um, what was your name again?" I asked her since I had never seen her before. "Annabel, I just started this morning" she answered as I got up from my bed.

"Very well then, Annabel, what time is it?" "A quarter past eight, your highness, I have laid out your clothes for the day and ran your bath as you liked it" she bowed her head and I gladly thanked her and sent her away.

I looked over by my dresser and saw the outfit Annabel had laid out for me. A strapless beige high low dress with gold strapped sandals. Sighing, I went to my large bathroom decorated in silver and green colors and step over by the bathtub in the center. Stripping out of my clothes, I stepped into the water and was immediately relaxed by the refreshing hot water. Once I was fully cleaned up, i quickly gotten dressed and looked at myself in the mirror. My reflection was a girl with back length wavy auburn colored hair, almond shaped soft brown eyes and sun kissed skin tone. I smiled at myself as I do every morning until a knock came across my door.

"Come in" I answered turning to Grace, family friend and my hairstylist. She is 6 years older than I am. I'm only 17 and she's 23 and I would say we get along okay, even though she's my parents friend, not mine.

"Oh good you're already dressed, now let's get your done so you can met your mother downstairs!" she said walking towards me and pushing me into the chair in front of my mirror. After about 20 minutes or so, she finally finished and smirked to herself. My hair was now pulled back in an half up half down hairstyle. The top part was tied into a bow while the bottom half was in curls. To finish it all off, she added my tiara onto my head making sure not the mess it up one inch.

"Perfect! Now get going before you worry your mother" she told me and I thanked her before heading out of my room. From the top of the staircase, I could see my mother talking to some servants as I made my way down. One of the servants looked at me before whispering to my mother who looked up at me with a smile.

"Oh, there you are! I thought I would have to send Annabel to go get you" she told me before sending the servants off somewhere. "I'm sorry mother, will David be joining for breakfast?" I asked of her and she nodded. "He's in the dining room waiting for us" she said as we started walking towards the dining room.

Right she was, he was there, sitting at the table though he rose up from his seat to greet us. "My two beautiful girls have finally arrived, shall we get right down to business?" he sounded excited as we sat down.

"As you know, Beth, your birthday is coming up in a month and your mother and I, as tradition, decided to throw you the annual ball for you to find your future husband" he said and I took a sip of my orange juice. Oh not this thing again.

"David.." I began to say but he cut off by raising his hand. "Now, we have had many bachelors for you to meet but you somehow disregarded all of them, so I set out and found you a handsome young prince that has agreed to the marriage propose" that's when I chocked on the food in my mouth, and one of the servants came to help me by handing me my juice. I gladly took it and gulped it down coughing a bit.

"Marriage proposal?! I never agreed to a marriage proposal!" I told him raising my voice a bit. "Exactly, I knew- well your mother and I knew you were never going to find a husband on your own, so I found one for you" David said so calmly. I looked at my mother with a glare and she just stared at me with a blank look. "Now, I know you haven't met him so I arranged-" David began to speak again but this time, I cut him off.

"No" I blurted out getting looks from both my parents. "I'm not going to marry a guy I don't even know!" "Oh yes you are Beth, I already gave his family the marriage certificate, so you have no choice" he glared at me. "But it should be my choice on who I marry!" I yelled standing up from the table. "We already gave you that option and you turned down all 100 of our applicants that we've given you! So sorry Beth if this isn't what you want but the decision has been made!" for the first time ever, David has raised his voice at me.

In all of my life he has never done so and now I know why. He's scary when he's angry. Without a word, I sat down quietly looking at my hands. "Now in case you have forgotten, I am the King which means, what I say goes and it's final" his voice said so coldly. He then retrieved from the table leaving me and my mother there alone. It wasn't long before she got up and went behind him as always. She ALWAYS chooses HIM! No matter what's been said or what's been done, it's always him over me.

I felt tears come to my eyes and left the room immediately towards the garden. I ran to where I knew I could cry and not worry about who sees me. My real father's grave. Yes, David is not my real father, he's my step father that stepped in as soon as my father passed when I was 7 years old. My dad's brother so technically my uncle but he's my step father now and I hate how he treats me and the fact my mother won't do anything makes it worse.

"Father..why did you have to leave me here?" I whispered as I sat by his grave. "They've taken all of my choices away but you always gave me a choice on what I wanted to do" I continued on and on with telling him about what's been happening since he died. "But don't you worry Father, when I'm Queen, everything that was lost after you died, shall be restored and I'm going to make you proud of me" I smiled a little bit looking down on my ring finger where a sapphire ring is placed. It was your Mother's engagement ring from your Father. "She may have forgotten you' but I never will" I said feeling a light breeze from the wind. "Your highness, Mr. Zaire is here to start your studies and training" one of the servants told me when he found me. "Thank you" I said standing up and looking back at my father's grave before blowing a kiss and following the servant back inside the castle